District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

District Leadership Evaluation Report - Randolph Public Schools

In November 2007, the Board voted to designate the Randolph Public School District as an underperforming district. The Board further directed the Department to conduct a review of current leadership within the school community to determine whether the capacity to address identified problems and improve the quality of educational services to Randolph students was present. To that end, a team of three educational consultants appointed by the Department visited the district in December, where they reviewed data and documents provided by the Department and by the district and conducted a series of interviews with individuals and groups across the community. The District Leadership Evaluation Report written by that team is provided for your review and discussion at this month's Board meeting.

The report sets out a series of findings regarding the Superintendent's leadership in critical areas of need, such as the quality of teaching and learning, school climate and culture, discipline and safety and parent participation. The report also addresses the leadership challenges facing the Randolph School Committee and the role of municipal leaders and parents in supporting educational improvements in the district.

The report highlights the need for district and school leaders to establish a few key priorities and develop an immediate plan to focus on those priorities. There is a pressing need to take steps to bring the community together in support of its schools: elected officials, school and district leaders, town citizens and parents must agree to put past mistakes behind them and move forward with a specific plan built on open communication and compromise.

One issue of concern has been the stability of district leadership. Here is an update: On February 12, 2008, the Randolph School Committee approved a new three-year contract for Superintendent Richard Silverman. Both parties have signed the contract.

After reviewing the District Leadership Evaluation Report, I am making the following recommendations for the Board's consideration:

• The Board will defer action on the question of chronic underperformance and state receivership for the district for a period of 120 days in order to allow district leaders, School Committee members and the Board of Selectmen to prepare a focused Turnaround Plan to guide next steps. This plan must have the demonstrated support of all the parties and must be submitted to the Department no later than May 30, 2008.

• The Commissioner will appoint a District Support Team to:

  • assist the parties noted above in their efforts to define priority actions to be taken during the next 24 months, and
  • assist in the community-wide, consensus-building effort that must be launched in order to create the conditions for positive change and collaboration.

  The District Support Team would consist of 3-5 individuals who have sufficient knowledge of the current situation in Randolph and who have expertise in district leadership, management practices and building collaboration.

• The Department will convene the Randolph District Support Team to set out the objectives of the assignment, share pertinent information and consider the need to recruit other supporting parties whose contributions may be desirable in this effort. Those supporting parties may include a higher education partner, professional association representatives, parent organization advisers and others.

• Representatives from Randolph will be expected to present the Turnaround Plan to the Board at its June 24, 2008 meeting. If the Board agrees that the Plan is viable and there is evidence of a unified commitment in the community, the Board may approve the Plan at that time. If consensus among key stakeholder groups has not been reached, the Board will consider a decision to place the Randolph Public School District in receivership.

Superintendent Richard Silverman, School Committee Chairman Larry Azar and Board of Selectmen Chairman Paul Connors have been invited to attend the February Board meeting to hear the discussion and respond to questions.

Juliane Dow and Lynda Foisy will be present to respond to questions about the Department's role in the Randolph effort.

Enclosed is the Randolph Public School District Leadership Evaluation Report    and a suggested motion.